Morning Star
by Rikarikun
Summary: A somewhat original story that I decided to write out of boredom. Features lots of OCs and rarely tries to interact with Persona canon aside from a reference here and there, at least for the moment. Also features formatting being broken by our beloved host site overlords. Working on a fix for that right now.


Shin Megami Tensei and all of its spinoffs, including the Persona series are property of Atlus. All characters and all things copyright belong to their original owners. That should be enough to appease people, right?

* * *

Chapter 1: Callisto.

* * *

"I am thou, and thou art I... From the sea of thy soul, I come... The one known as the most beautiful of the nymphs... One who is weary of romance, I shall show you true love... I am Callisto."

* * *

~REALLY GOTTA KEEP IT GOING GOING~  
~DEEP DOWN YEAH KNOWING KNOWING~  
~WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT? UNKNOWN~  
~CAN'T KEEP MY EYES CLOSED NOW IT'S GONE~  
~LOOKED EVERYWHERE FOR MY IDENTITY~  
~HOOKED EVERYWHERE DID I BELONG TO AN ENTITY?~  
~I DON'T KNOW WHERE I HAVE GONE WRONG?~

Rikari's alarm was going off, which caused Rikari to grumble as he turned it off. Rubbing his eyes, he grumbled a bit.

"Well, I guess I should get up now..."

Pushing the sheets of his bed off of him, Rikari got up, and proceeded to change into his school uniform.

"Well, I guess it's time for another boring day, I guess I'll still try to make the best of it."

Having gone downstairs to make himself breakfast, Rikari found that his father still hadn't gotten up yet.

"Eh, he'll be fine. He works nights anyway... Although I wish he had a day job so that I could spend at least some time with him."

Rikari sighed, finishing his breakfast up and heading out the door to go to school for the day.

"I wish something interesting would happen for once... Nothing ever does anymore."

* * *

After school while out browsing for gunpla and other things, Rikari ran into a guy around his age that was being bullied and barely managed to bluff his way to intimidating them into leaving.

"Whew. Thanks for the help."  
"It's fine. But you should really try and get some help in dealing with them permanently. I'm Rikari, by the way. Rikari Satio."  
"I'm Fubari. Fubari Yuuma."  
"Well, it's nice to meet you. I've never seen you around school before though, so is it safe to assume that you don't go to Seiryuu High?"  
"I don't. I go to Suzaku High. Although you should have been able to figure that out by seeing my school's emblem."  
"Oh, right. Anyway, do you want me to walk you home? I don't have much to do this afternoon, and I need to kill time."  
"Sure! It'll be nice to have someone to talk to for once."

* * *

"And this would be my house. Thanks for taking the time to walk me home, Rikari-san."  
"You don't really need to add the -san. Anyway, it was my pleasure. I'll be going home now, try not to run into any more bullies, okay?"  
"I can't really say that I won't, but I'll try!"

* * *

On his way back to his house, Rikari decided to stop at a Junes and grab a snack.

"Hmmm... What should I get..."

Eventually, he decided on a burger and lemonade.

"Yeah. I guess this is what I normally order anyway."

One snack later, Rikari was heading home.

* * *

Upon entering his house, Rikari announced that he was home, albeit nobody was there at the time.

"As usual, he's gone to work already... I guess eating at Junes was a good idea after all."

* * *

After taking a shower and drying off, Rikari got changed into his pajamas and went to bed.

* * *

"Welcome to the Velvet Room..."  
'Ngh... Where am I?'

Looking around, Rikari saw nothing but velvet. The room he was in appeared to be a lounge of some sort. There was a woman singing, and a man playing a piano. There was also a man standing in front of a blank canvas. There were also other people sitting nearby, but he couldn't make out their features for some reason. But most importantly, there was a man sitting on a couch in front of him, and Rikari himself was sitting in a chair, with a table between him and this man. The man sitting before him was balding, the top of his head lacking hair, albeit still having it on the sides of his head, had a really long nose, bloodshot eyes, a unibrow, and was wearing a suit.

"My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter."  
'Okay... I guess I'm dreaming.'

Igor called forth a hexagram of what looked to be upside down cards. There was also a card in the middle of the hexagram.

"Do you believe in fortune telling? Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different."

Flipping over the first card, Igor spoke.

"Hmm... The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent."

Flipping over another card, Igor spoke again.

"Ah, The Fool in the upright position. This is a card of beginnings. Perhaps you are going to be on your own journey in the near future."

Flipping over yet another card, Igor once again spoke.

"And then for the final card, The Fortune in the upright position. This is a card of destiny, turning points, movement and seeing how things connect. Perhaps you will uncover something big."

Igor waved his hand over the cards, and they vanished.

"In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here of your own free will."

* * *

~THERE IS NO MORE DARKNESS~  
~NO MORE TEARS IN THE RAIN~  
~NO ONE HURT~  
~WRITE ME AN ENDLESS SONG (WHEN YOU LET GO)~  
~AS I'LL FEEL SO ALIVE~  
~Repeat SOUL PHRASE (I'M WALKING ON MY WAY)~  
~NOW WRITE ME AN ENDLESS SONG (WHEN YOU LET GO)~  
~AS I'LL FEEL SO ALIVE~  
~Going through past the darkness~

Turning off his alarm, Rikari got out of bed and changed into his school uniform.

"I wonder what was with that dream I had last night... Oh well, I suppose it was nothing."

Going downstairs, Rikari was alone for breakfast again.

* * *

On his way to school, Rikari ran into a strange woman in what looked to be a velvet-colored elevator attendant uniform. She asked him for directions, and he cheerfully delivered them.

* * *

After school, Rikari found a door in an alleyway on the way home that nobody was noticing, and that he was sure wasn't there before. It kind of just... stuck out to him. He went up to it, knocking on it before attempting to open it, light flooding out from behind the door when he opened it. When his senses allowed him to see again, he was in that room from his dream again. Sort of. It was noticeably smaller, and shaped somewhat like a bar and cafe hybrid now. It was also noticeably quieter than last time.

"So it wasn't a dream after all... But wait, that means..."

The room was void of people, save for that Igor person sitting on a couch, along with a man with short blonde hair and yellow eyes wearing what looked like an elevator attendant uniform of sorts behind the counter. Rikari approached Igor, sitting in the chair on the other side of the table that was in front of the mysterious old man.

"Excuse me..."  
"Ah, you're the youth from before. Pardon my pulling you in here in your dreams, it's been the only convenient way we can draw attention to this place as of late. There used to be another way of doing so, but he has since taken a leave of absence, leaving us to observe and offer passive support to those who need it."  
"Ah. Is there a reason this place is different today, too, then?"  
"Indeed. This was the form that was most suitable to your psyche."  
"Anyway, everybody but you and the bartender over there seems to be out right now."  
"We are still preparing for you and your future companions. But since you haven't been introduced yet."

Igor motioned Rikari's attention towards the counter, where Theodore was cleaning a cup.

"His name is Theodore, and he is very much a resident of the Velvet Room, much like myself. He will be the one to aid you by keeping records."

Theodore briefly looked up and acknowledged Igor's comment before continuing what he was doing previously.

"By the way, I never got to introduce myself. I'm Rikari. Rikari Satio."  
"And I am Igor, the master of this Velvet Room. But seeing as you recall your dream, you probably knew that already, no? You are certainly an interesting guest though. Most do not return here so fast, and usually come with at least one Persona, but you do not seem to possess one. Could it be that the wheels of fate have yet to turn for your journey?"  
"Huh?"  
"Think nothing of it for now. All will become clear in due time. For now, might I suggest that you return to where you were previously? Time may have no meaning here, but you surely must have things you still need to take care of."  
"Not really, my days have been pretty dull lately."  
"I bid you farewell, then."

Rikari got up from his seat, walking out of the Velvet Room through the same door he'd assumed he'd entered through, due to it being the only door in the room. Upon exiting, no time had passed, and it was still around mid-afternoon, and he was standing back in the alley he'd entered previously.

"Wow, he was right. Time really doesn't pass normally in there. I'll have to make note of that, although Igor probably wouldn't be too happy if I abused that fact. Anyway, enough standing here, I guess I'll go home now."

At which point Rikari blinked and then came face to face with a blue mask that looked like it was strapped to "something". That "something" promptly turned around and licked him, causing him to stagger backwards and fall over.

-ENEMY ADVANTAGE!-  
~MASS DESTRUCTION - PMLB MIX~

"What the hell is that thing?!"

Now that he could actually see it, it looked like a gigantic floating sphere. It was pink, and had black stripes, but the most prominent feature was a complete and oversized mouth, which had an equally oversized black tongue sticking out of it. It lunged at Rikari, who frantically dove out of the way.

"Crap! This is NOT good, AT ALL. I need to get out of here!"

_Attack  
-Spells  
_Item  
-Persona  
_Guard  
_Tactics  
Run

After staring at what had just appeared in front of him for a few seconds, Rikari smacked it away and proceeded to flee from the thing that was currently attacking him.

* * *

"What was that thing?"

Rikari had managed to get away, but he was pretty sure he'd dropped a little bit of money in doing so. Looking up at the sky, he also found that it wasn't the normal blue that he would have normally taken for granted. Instead it was a deep red.

"Well, this is certainly troublesome... I guess I should probably make my way home as fast as possible. I hope dad's alright."

And then a familiar jingle came over the speakers of the building he'd ducked into to avoid the thing that was attacking him.

-"Here at Junes, every day is customer appreciation day! We currently have a sale going on featuring our delicious steak croquets in our food court! Why not come and try some?"-  
"Well, I AM hungry... I guess it wouldn't hurt to go buy something to eat, considering dad's probably left by now..."

And so Rikari went up to the food court and had something to eat. Thankfully there weren't any of those floating gigantic mouth things in the store.

* * *

On the way home, he hadn't run into more of those things, and the sky had seemingly reverted to the blue that everybody takes for granted at some point during his meal at Junes.

"I'm home..."

Yet again, his father wasn't home. Rikari went up to his room, flipping on a song by Hirata Shihoko.

~HIDE AND SEEK IT WANTS TO PLAY AGAIN (LIKE A DETECTIVE, I WON'T LET IT GET AWAY)~  
~IT'S CONSTANTLY COSTUMING WITH LOADS OF FAKE (I WILL STRIP SEARCH IF I HAVE TO)~  
~THOUGH I'M NOT AFRAID TO KNOW IT, DON'T KNOW HOW (I AM SO DETERMINED)~  
~TO CHASE AFTER WHAT'S HIDDEN AND SEIZE THIS DAY, THIS MOMENT~  
~(WANNA KNOW) ENTER KEY TO ACCELERATE~  
~(WANNA GO) IGNITION TURNED ON~  
~IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME TO DRIVE TO TRUTH~  
~(WANNA SEIZE) STRANGER THAN IN MOVIES~  
~(WANNA SEIZE) IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS~  
~THEY SAY THAT TRUTH WILL OUT~  
~CAN'T KEEP ON HIDING~  
~THERE'S NO TURNING BACK NOW~  
~I'M GONNA GO ON~  
~I'M GONNA GO GET WHAT I WANT~

And with that, the track ended.

"Man, I should really get the full version of that song at some point. Oh well."

* * *

Rikari didn't have an alarm today, since it was Saturday, so he woke up later than usual.

"I guess I'll go out."

And with that Rikari got changed out of his pajamas and into his casual clothing before eating breakfast and leaving for the day.

* * *

"Crap."

Just as Rikari was exiting the book store where he normally bought his manga, the sky had turned red again. There was also a lack of people outside. However there were three of those mouth things from yesterday, all of them more than ready to kill him.

Finding that he had nowhere to run to Rikari sighed.

"Well, I guess there's no avoiding it this time. I don't have any weapons though, so this can only end badly."

And so Rikari ran up to the nearest of the floating mouths and punched it as hard as he could.

"Alright! I got a hit in!"

-EVENT BATTLE!-  
~THE ULTIMATE IN THE ARENA - NAKED MIX~

Rikari  
100/100  
50/50

Attack  
-Spells  
_Item  
-Persona  
_Guard  
_Tactics  
-Run

"Oh boy, now they're all mad at me. I'd better at least attempt to survive."

Once again, Rikari ran up to the nearest enemy and punched them. This time it looked like he'd actually done damage. And then he got triple-teamed by the enemies.

"Ow!"

Rikari  
75/100  
50/50

Attack  
-Spells  
_Item  
-Persona  
_Guard  
_Tactics  
-Run

Rikari repeated his tactic of punching the nearest enemy again. Despite the fact that it looked like he was dealing damage, he got the feeling it was nowhere near enough to get him anywhere. And once again, he got triple-teamed by the enemies, who attacked relentlessly, knocking Rikari over three times before their attacks ceased.

Rikari  
25/100  
50/50

Attack  
-Spells  
_Item  
-Persona  
_Guard  
_Tactics  
-Run

"This is getting me nowhere! At this rate, I'm going to die before I can get away!"

And then the world's colors inverted, save for the sky, which remained red.

"I am thou, and thou art I... From the sea of thy soul, I come... The one known as the most beautiful of the nymphs... One who is weary of romance, I shall show you true love... I am Callisto."

Rikari stood in awe for a moment.

"Is this my... Persona?"

And then the world reinverted, save for the color of the sky, since it was very much still red.

Rikari's HP was restored! Spell and Persona commands enabled!

Rikari  
125/125  
75/75

_Attack  
Spells  
-Magna  
_Item  
_Persona  
_Guard  
_Tactics  
-Run

"Persona!"

Callisto appeared and rose from behind Rikari, encasing the nearest enemy in a gigantic rock for a moment before it disappeared. That enemy then proceeded to rupture into a cloud of black smoke before vanishing. The remaining two enemies attacked Rikari, but he was less affected by them compared to before.

"I wonder, are you doing this Callisto?"

Rikari  
110/125  
70/75

_Attack  
Spells  
-Magna  
_Item  
_Persona  
_Guard  
_Tactics  
-Run

"Magna!"

Again, Callisto appeared and rose from behind Rikari to once again encase the nearest enemy in stone, and again, that enemy ruptured into smoke before vanishing. The remaining enemy attacked Rikari again, clearly unphased by how easily his allies had just been decimated.

"There's one left!"

Rikari  
100/125  
65/75

_Attack  
Spells  
-Magna  
_Item  
_Persona  
_Guard  
_Tactics  
-Run

"Callisto!"

Once more, Callisto appeared, and the final enemy ruptured after being encased in a boulder.

22 EXP gained!  
Rikari leveled up!

"Alright!"

50 Yen gained!  
Obtained 30 Magician cards!

Then the sky returned to blue, and as the sky returned to normal, so did the people. It was as if it had never happened.

"Well, that's certainly odd. I guess it really did just happen though, since I have these cards. I'm going to have to get a card case to store them though, can't be putting them in my pockets forever, since I'll probably run out of space eventually!"

Stashing the tarot cards he'd just gotten in his pocket, Rikari headed towards the nearest card store to buy a case for his cards before heading to the place where he'd last found the Velvet Room. Upon entering, he found that it was a lot more lively than before, like when he had entered during a dream. There was a woman singing, a man playing the piano, and a man standing at an empty canvas. However, it didn't seem out of place in this cafe setting for some reason. Sitting down at the chair in front of Igor, Rikari pulled out his card case, opening it up before setting it on the table.

"So, can you tell me what these are?"

Igor removed one of the cards from the case.

"These are Demon's tarot cards. Previous guests were able to use them to summon Personae from the sea of their souls. Perhaps you are one of those individuals, too? Gather enough of them and you may find out."  
"Alright, I guess I'll believe you there. Now, what is this?"

Rikari materialized a card bearing the Star Arcana on one side, and Callisto's likeness on the other, placing it on the table, where it proceeded to defy physics by rotating on a corner in mid-air.

"Ah, The most beautiful of the nymphs, one who is weary of romance, yet can show one true love, Callisto. Another one of our previous visitors had also called this Persona from the sea of their soul."  
"Okay... Anyway, this Persona is of the Star Arcana, right? What can I acquire from that Arcana currently?"  
"Currently, none. However, there is something important that you should know about."

Igor motioned Theodore to come over, and when he did, he was holding a gigantic book.

"This is a Persona Compendium. Once you've summoned a Persona, even just once, if you've made changes to your current ones, wish to take on or return a persona, please speak to me about it. This is important if you wish to be able to manage your Personae properly without having to go through the trouble of summoning them from scratch every time."  
"Okay. I'll make note of that. For now, I think I'm good."  
"Very well."

Theodore returned to his position behind the counter.

"I guess I'll get going for now. I'll be back when I need to mess with my Personae."  
"Farewell then, young visitor."

And with that, Rikari got up and left the Velvet Room to return home.

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

Post chapter 1 goodies:

Wow, that was a long opening chapter. At this paragraph, it's 19KB, and pushing on 20 KB!

Anyway, this is Morning Star. It's a somewhat original Persona fan fiction, and I'd like to avoid latching on to the plots of the other Persona games to keep it that way, however, do expect cameos, like Theodore in the Velvet Room, or Elizabeth earlier in the chapter. Some of them will be vague, others will be blatantly obvious. Anyway, moving on, I'm sure some of you have some questions, like "What does Rikari look like?" or "What was with the references to the battle GUI?" or "Where those demons Rikari was fighting those shadows from the Persona 4 tutorial?" or even "Why choose the improved Persona 2 system for Persona use?". The answers to those questions, in order, are as follows:

Rikari Satio is a young man who is 17 years of age, he lives with his father and is attending Seiryuu high school. He doesn't really have any friends at the start of the story, however, then he then met Fubari Yuuma, who will be appearing again later on. Rikari's school uniform is a deep blue, which serves to contrast with his tied back hair, which is red. His eyes are gray. His casual clothing is what you'd find on any character of mine that shares his name, it consists of a black sleeveless vest over a white and gold tee-shirt, along with black pants, and black shoes. He doesn't have his Tanto this time, however. At least, not yet. And they won't be kept in his pant legs this time, either. They'll be kept in that hammerspace that people call an inventory when he isn't using them.

The references to the GUI were very much my attempt at having Rikari smack the fourth wall, since he only really notices it once. Although honestly, it's also an excuse for me to save effort during battles that use it. Also, the references to BGM are there for you guys.

The demons Rikari was fighting were indeed Slipping Hableries. I did my research and looked them up, and that's where the whole thing with the exp/yen/loot came from, minus the cards, since I didn't want to go through the trouble of writing demon negotiation scenes. So that's how Rikari will go about getting cards.

And the reason I chose the Persona 2 system was because I liked how it worked. Flat SP costs for summoning Personae is better than individual costs, although I do have plans for including the Persona 3/4 system soon enough, albeit Rikari will still follow the Persona 2 system, even after that.

Anyway, I have consistency notes this time, so I WILL be making less mistakes with name errors among other things.

Well, until the next chapter, see you later~


End file.
